


there's sand in the bed

by CaptainRivaini



Series: The Poly Pirate Gfs [1]
Category: Black Sails
Genre: F/F, Female Character of Color, Multi, Polyamory, anne and eleanor love her back, max loves eleanor and anne
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-02-24
Packaged: 2018-05-23 01:26:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6100280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainRivaini/pseuds/CaptainRivaini
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Don’t look at me,” Eleanor said with a roll of her eyes. She made it a point to let her eyes rest on Anne’s scowling face. “I’m not the one who doesn’t wash in between her toes before climbing into bed.”</p><p>“The fuck you say to me? You calling me dirty?” Anne snarled, looking ready to pounce.</p><p>Max sighed and wondered whether she could get away with kicking them both out of bed without feeling guilty about it later.</p>
            </blockquote>





	there's sand in the bed

**Author's Note:**

> say no to love triangles kids

Owning a tavern in the sketchier parts of rural Bristol had never truly been Max’s endgame if she was quite honest. She had wanted peace yes, had wanted a safe place for those who she loved, yes that indeed was true too but what she had got - the final package after Nassau...

She did not imagine she would be behind a bar, serving drinks to old sailors who looked like they were ready to collapse any second while further on, just near the end of the bar, sat Anne Bonny with her own mug in hand and a steely gaze on her face. 

A curse from upstairs made her pause pouring the last of the gin into the pewter mug held out by a patron. Max looked up at the rotting floorboards and when she heard the curse again allowed her expression to change to a wry grin, unable to contain herself despite the look Anne sent her way.

Eleanor didn’t seem to be doing well with the books upstairs. Either that or she had stubbed her toe - either option seemed likely and it made Max’s stomach seize with a mixture of laughter and affection.

No, she had not imagined this life at all.

But she wouldn't replace it either, not for anything in the world.

* * *

 

 _ **A** lthough_ sometimes Max would have, or at least she would have preferred a location where she would be able to go for a walk around the many cliffs that littered England. At least with cliffs there was always half a chance the sound of Eleanor and Anne arguing would not be able to reach her.

In their defence (Max smiled, she was defending them against the other without them even knowing and it tickled her, made her warm) neither Anne or Eleanor had known how intertwined they were destined to be. It was also fair to say that they didn't argue  _all the time_ either, rather on matters that made Max roll her eyes fondly at them. 

She still remembered the milk incident and the uproar Anne and Eleanor had caused over it.

 _”I swear if that fucking pirate has drunk the last of the fresh milk I’m going to make her regret saving me. I will, just watch.”_  Max remembered hearing Eleanor say, bent over their stores to rummage through in search of the drink she so desperately desired.

She also recalled the night before that incident where she and Anne had stayed up late to stare up at the stars, hands pressed together. Max had sipped on a strange punch that Eleanor had found through her contacts whereas Anne sported a foamy, white moustache on her upper lip each time she lifted her mug to her mouth.

“ _Anne Bonny if that is what I think it is,_ ” Max had playfully chided, not knowing of the weeks of civil war between Eleanor and Anne sure to come over the stupid pint of milk. “ _You know Eleanor won’t be happy about this._ ”

Anne had grinned and, as if to prove her point, downed the last of the milk with a look of victory in her eyes.

It had been a time of great trying on Max’s patience and when it had finally ended (with Anne apologizing - if somewhat grudgingly - and Eleanor accepting - also grudgingly) the relief had been overwhelming. She had thought she would never have to deal with such foolishness again.

But Max ought to have known better, she really should have.

Because tonight, after they had closed up the tavern and gone to bed? Tonight looked to be another time of great displeasure.

Things had been civil between Anne and Eleanor when they had gotten into bed, Max in between them with her arms spread to curl around each of the woman’s heads and press them to her for a kiss. She lingered on each of them and thanked whatever deity up there for granting her both of them to love, and not taking them away from her like so many had been taken back in Nassau. It was a small thanks that she gave each night, even on the nights when both of them got too much for her to handle.

It only took Anne turning to face Eleanor with a look of disgust on her face to make that night one of the nights Max considered kicking them both out of bed.

Max sighed in knowing that a confrontation between the two would not be fine behind. She wouldn’t mind knowing why there would be a confrontation in the first place but if she knew Anne and Eleanor as well as she thought she did, it would more than likely be over something ridiculous and for that reason she closed her eyes and willed herself to go to sleep faster.

Eleanor threw the first stone.

“Don’t look at me,” Eleanor said with a roll of her eyes. She made it a point to let her eyes rest on Anne’s scowling face. “I’m not the one who doesn’t wash in between her toes before climbing into bed.”

“The fuck you say to me? You calling me dirty?” Anne snarled, looking ready to pounce.

Max sighed and wondered whether she could get away with kicking them both out of bed without feeling guilty about it later. Instead she closed her eyes tighter, scrunching them until the point she grew uncomfortable. If it had been possible to simply fall asleep Max would have, anything to avoid whatever was to come next.

“Even if I was calling you dirty, do you think I’d be mad enough to admit it?” Eleanor replied and the near mocking tone of voice she used alerted Max from pretending to be asleep. She knew that voice and from Eleanor it was no doubt going to leave her with a black eye. 

She sat up, now fully awake, to grab at Eleanor’s shoulder. 

“Eleanor  _stop_.”

“That’s more admittance than anything, cunt.” Anne shot back just as Max got Eleanor to finally shut up. Thus it was Anne’s turn to touch on the shoulder, her name said softer and more sweetly. Surprisingly it was easier to talk to Anne down than it was Eleanor, who she had to adapt a more warning tone for because the blonde liked to wound Anne up like it was her own one-woman mission.

“Anne,  _please_.” Max soothed and watched as Anne’s hard glare softened and she instead looked over at Eleanor with faint disdain. 

“She _started_  it.” Anne said, lip curled into a sneering grin.

“You’re the one who brought what feels like  _sand_ into our bed!”  Eleanor retorted, looking offended as she always did whenever Anne tried to place fault at her feet.

Max sighed a long-suffering sigh and settled back into the plush comfort of her pillow behind her. “You know how I feel about sand. We are not discussing this in bed.”

Anne and Eleanor shared a glance that made Max feel satisfied the fight was over, if not the war then at least the battle, and she could finally settle in for the night without worrying there would be explosions of blonde and red happening while she was asleep.

She watched them both for a few moments, decided that the worst had passed and then bent forward to peck them on the lips, caressing a cheek at each pass she made.

“ _Bonsoir mes amours.”_

Max snuggled into both of them as best as she could, her hand reaching for Eleanor's (clammy, still so nervous after all these years of forgiveness that Max had bestowed on her) while her nose pressed into the crook of Anne's neck. She did not always sleep comfortably and while sometimes it was because of the two women she shared her bed with, other times it was down to how, in her love for the both of them, the position she lay did not always grant her peace. But it was always worth it to be pressed up against the two of them: touching, enfolded and protected by their warm bodies and soothing breaths on her face as they slept.

It should feel impossible, Max thought as her eyes flickered shut and she felt Eleanor's body curve into her back, to love two people as much as she did. But it didn't. It felt easy as breathing and it was that thought that made her smile and press into Anne's body harder, toes tickling the rough patch of skin of the redhead's ankles.

She heard Eleanor huff behind her and grinned, held onto her hand that little bit tighter and brought it around her waist to bring Eleanor's nose to the back of her neck. 

"Christ, we're squished together like puppies," Max just about caught Eleanor say under her breath with a chuckle that seemed to be full with disbelief. It didn't cause Max any alarm at hearing it - Eleanor had her own issues to work through, and this, this between them? It must be difficult to actually feel like a family (even if a somewhat mismatched one) and so Max didn't question the blonde. It wouldn't have been right to do so.

Anne snorted beside her but instead of belittling the other woman like Max assumed she would the pirate instead reached over - awkwardly, very awkwardly - to press the very tip of her fingers against the hand wrapped up in Max's. 

It was the smallest bit of affection Anne had ever shown Eleanor if you didn't include Anne saving Eleanor's life from a chopping block - which of course, Eleanor didn't.

Max waited for either of them to say something, her eyes shut but her ears practically perked with interest on what was to come next. But nothing did come apart from the sound of Anne's steady breathing and Eleanor's light snores and the sound of her grinding her teeth together, an irritable habit Max had been forced to get used to and Anne had complained about loudly the first week they had all slept together.

The silence eased Max into her own sleep, wedged in the middle with her hair tickling her companion's noses and her mind adrift from the fear and danger that had resided there a long, long time ago.

 


End file.
